


bloodstream

by katsmovingcastle



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Spies & Secret Agents, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, F/F, F/M, Fairy Lance, Keith and Shiro are Siblings, M/M, Vampire Keith (Voltron), everyone is supernatural
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-04
Updated: 2017-06-23
Packaged: 2018-10-28 04:33:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 16,469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10823844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katsmovingcastle/pseuds/katsmovingcastle
Summary: “Why were you searching for me, Lance?” Keith asks then, and that takes Lance by surprise, and he settles his hands on his knees, looking somewhere behind him before meeting his own eyes again.“I was assigned a mission to find you, and I knew you were going to be here because I’ve been watching you, for the past few weeks,” Lance says, and Keith looks at him with another soft laugh falling from his lips, seemingly out of his control.“Did you like what you found?” He asks then, and Lance gives him a slow to grow, genuine grin.“I very much do, Keith Kogane.”





	1. so tell me when it kicks in

**Author's Note:**

> hello! i haven't posted anything in awhile, and i already have about eight chapters of this already written, so i figured i would post it. updates will come every week for what i already have written! i haven't planned on how long this fic is going to be, but we'll see where it goes. as always, if you wanna talk to me about voltron or this fic, you can find me at my tumblr [peachykeiths.](http://peachykeiths.tumblr.com) also, many many thanks to [sawyer](http://ahoysawyer.tumblr.com) who is always supportive, reads my fic and is just all around amazing. i'm so thankful for all of his ideas and help! go check him out at his tumblr, and also his ao3, [Burny!](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burny/pseuds/Burny)  
> title and chapter tiles from "bloodstream" by ed sheeran.

Keith leaned heavily over the bar, the chill of the stocky glass in his hands seeping through the fabric of his glove. It’s dark despite the lights from the dj booth swirling around the club, and behind him are groups of bodies laughing and dancing, curling around each other in the edges of darkness. 

He doesn’t feel drunk enough for what he’s put himself into, and with another round of cheers from a table nearby, clinking their glasses together needlessly, he downs the rest of his drink in one go. He shuffles from his seat, then, wiping his mouth on the back of his hand and making his way through the crowd. 

His eyes catch certain features, he sees a flash of yellow glare in cat’s eyes, sharp pointed teeth, a darkened smile, smoky at the edges. A person brushes past his arm, and scales climb up all of the way to their shoulders from their wrists, sparkling blue and green when the light strikes them. 

Keith licks his lips, ducks his head and tries to zero in on the voices he can hear. He jumps from several conversations around him, looking for something interesting, something that would give him a lead, when his body collides with something tall and warm and solid. 

He tunes back in and looks up, pursing his lips and crossing his arms. The man in front of him is tall and lean, showing quite a bit of tanned skin and glittering, ocean blue eyes full of mirth. Keith notices the slight point to his ears, sees the almost invisible white lines of tattoos crawling up his arms, the golden shimmer to his cheeks, and deducts that he’s obviously a fae. 

“I would say that I’m sorry for bumping into you, but I’m not,” The man says, finding Keith’s eyes and holding his stare. Keith raises his eyebrows, leans his weight back on one foot and gives him another, this time obvious, once over. 

“We both know you can’t lie,” Keith says, and the boy’s eyes flash. Keith wonders how old he is. 

“Then you know that when I say I find you incredibly attractive, that it’s absolutely the truth,” he says, and offers one of his hands out in front of him. Keith takes it after a moment, and their hands linger longer than necessary. He knows that he’s trying to read him, see what he is, what he’s doing here. He’s not a professional like Keith is, but Keith’s never really been too focused on hiding who he is anyways, always focused on everyone else. 

“The name’s Lance,” The boy says, having moved closer now, the music impossibly louder. Keith feels the beat in his chest, and smirks when Lance leans in a little, his eyes flashing down to his lips. 

“Keith,” He mumbles, and knows he hears it. It’s a moment before Lance reaches out, trailing a hand down his arm. His touch feels light but packed with a fire that Keith could only ever account to the fact that he’s fae. Magic always feels so warm and light, coming from them.  


“Dance with me, then, pretty boy,” Keith watches him for a moment, mulls it over in his mind, knows that he has things to do, but figures it can wait. Even though he can lie, he wouldn’t spend time trying to convince himself that Lance wasn’t handsome. And he’d been here all night, no leads, drowning himself in what the bar had to offer him, and he wanted to let loose just a little. He also had zero impulse control, and when he saw the glint in Lance’s eyes, it was enough of a challenge that he couldn’t say no to it. 

Keith inclines his head towards the dance floor then, letting Lance lead him in to find a spot for the both of them. He watches Lance’s hips as he moves, studies how he’s clad in the skinniest jeans he’s ever seen and a button down shirt with the sleeves rolled up, an opened vest thrown over it, and decidedly knows that there’s no way anyone could guess he wasn’t fae. He smiles to himself, a small quirk at the side of his lips, and Lance catches it when he turns around, reaches his hands out to settle on his hips, pull him close. 

“You’ve got a nice smile,” He murmurs to him, and Keith rolls his eyes, lets himself be pulled chest to chest with the man. This close, he can smell the cologne that he’s doused himself in, and underneath, the earthy, wooden tones of what he suspected in the first place. 

“I get so tired of the fae and their honesty sometimes,” Keith says, and he moves along with the beat, complimenting the smooth way that Lance moves his hips against him. He’s being half sarcastic, and Lance laughs, then, and hums. 

“I get a little tired of everything that comes out of my mouth too. My mama always said I never developed the filter that most fae get once they get older,” Keith smiles at that, reaches his hands up to wrap around Lance’s neck, and Lance’s hands on his hips grip tighter, pull him even closer. 

“You were trying to use magic on me, earlier,” He points out, and Lance raises an eyebrow, rotates his hips against him in a way that Keith is easily impressed by, is slightly distracted by how good it feels. 

“I was,” Lance concedes, and ducks his head slightly, enough that Keith can feel his breath on his lips. 

Keith gets a little lost in his eyes then, can feel the warmth of his breath, of his skin against the fingertips resting on his neck. It’s a moment before he focuses in on his pulse, almost beating along with the base of the music. He swears they almost seem like their swirling, several shades of blue darkening and sparking at different intervals. 

“Can you feel my pulse, Keith? I’m sure it’s just a moment more before you can’t stop yourself from trying to hear the sound of my blood running through my veins,” Lance murmurs then, and his voice is so low, and so close to his mouth and Keith loses it, focuses in just like Lance said he should. 

He has a brief conscious moment, a small voice at the back of his mind begging him to realise what was happening, but it so quickly pops away, like a bubble. Keith can’t even remember what he was thinking about before he was listening to Lance’s heartbeat, feeling the warmth and his tongue getting heavy in his mouth, wanting to taste. 

“Shall we go somewhere more private, pretty boy,” Lance says, his voice an octave lower, putting emphasis on the pet name he’s given him. Keith has never had anyone call him that before, but it sounds amazing coming from Lance, and he wants him to say it over and over.  


Lance pulls away from him and Keith whines, low and short, in his throat. Lance chuckles lowly, cooing at him that it’s okay, and takes his hand. 

It doesn’t take long for Lance to weave them through the crowd, leading them towards the back of the club, where the more private rooms were. They were velvet lined walls, maroon red, and lush carpets, the rooms filled with expensive looking rugs and soft, long couches. There were many couples who had already taken them, entangled in complicated ways, lost in each other. 

Lance passed them all, even those concealed in corners or behind expertly placed curtains of beads, and led Keith off into a room that was small, but empty. 

Once he had Keith inside, he closed and locked the door. 

The room was swirling enough that Keith couldn’t really make out any defining features, not that it was like he was even giving a moment’s thought to anything else besides Lance’s pulse pounding in his ears. He could feel his teeth elongating, enough to feel the prick of them against his lower lip, blood beading from the small wound in teardrops, pooling underneath his teeth, in the center of his lip.

Lance moves closer then, swiping his thumb across Keith’s bottom lip with a coo, his hand unbelievably warm where it then went to rest along his chin. Keith leans into the touch, his tongue swiping out then to taste where Lance’s thumb had been, tasting the saltiness of the remnants he had left there and craving more. 

“Sshh, pretty boy, I’ll give you what you want, you just have to answer a few questions,” Lance murmurs, and his voice is low and syrupy sweet, and Keith hangs onto every last word. 

He can’t even remember what he was doing there that night in the first place, doesn’t remember back from when he first looked in Lance’s eyes. He has another alarming moment, something pounding in his head like there’s something wrong but he can’t focus, all he can see is blue. 

Lance leads him over to a large couch that situated in the middle of the room, and Keith lets him, feels like his legs are made of nothing as he sits down and immediately gives his attention back to Lance. 

He has a moment where he wonders why he hasn’t just taken what he wants from Lance already, as he’s done a million times before when he’s hungry and he smells something good, but he doesn’t feel like he wants to hurt him. Keith peers into his eyes, the room swirling and hazy behind him, and finds that his eyes are glowing blue. He finds he can’t look away. 

“Why are you searching for Takashi Shirogane?” Lance asks, and Keith feels his tongue, heavy in his mouth, and tries to find words. It takes him a few moments to form a proper thought process to translate into words, and his eyebrows furrow as he takes a moment to wonder why he’s being asked questions. 

The room wavers for a moment, a sudden surge of clarity, and Keith watches as Lance’s eyes go wide, and his hands go up, swirls and tendrils of blue smoke curling out of his fingertips and making their ways around Keith, blurring his vision. He smells cotton candy and the smell of the Earth after a good, long rain, and sinks further into the couch. 

He watches as Lance lets out a long breath and Keith giggles, having forgotten why he had felt so angry all of the sudden. 

“Takashi is my brother,” Keith mumbles, and Lance’s eyes flash with recognition, and it seems like a million expressions flash by as Keith watches him, tilting his head to the side slightly. 

“Why were you searching for me, Lance?” Keith asks then, and that takes Lance by surprise, and he settles his hands on his knees, looking somewhere behind him before meeting his own eyes again. 

“I was assigned a mission to find you, and I knew you were going to be here because I’ve been watching you, for the past few weeks,” Lance says, and Keith looks at him with another soft laugh falling from his lips, seemingly out of his control. 

“Did you like what you found?” He asks then, and Lance gives him a slow to grow, genuine grin. 

“I very much do, Keith Kogane,” He mumbles, and pulls something from his pocket, a vial with a dark liquid sloshing thickly against the clear glass. It’s a moment before Lance presses it to Keith’s lips, the liquid falling past into his mouth, registering bitter on his tongue, before the whole room goes black. Keith dreams devoid of all color except blue.


	2. fading out again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “If it’s any consolation, I always really commended your ability to believe in all of this even when you weren’t able to see it. I always wished I had been able to tell you, but,” Hunk says, piping in after being very quiet, having been typing away at his computer and listening, probably just keeping an eye on their security cameras. He trails off and looks over to Pidge to give them a smile, which Pidge half heartedly returns. 
> 
> “Thanks Hunk, but all I know is that I’m tired and need to go to sleep after worrying about Lance for as long as I had to. It’s enough of him for a whole month, I’m telling you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here's the next chapter! i hope you enjoy. as always, you can find me at my tumblr [peachykeiths.](http://peachykeiths.tumblr.com)

Shiro rubbed blearily at his eyes as he woke up to his room shrouded in darkness, the bed cold and unfamiliar underneath him. He sits up to his muscles screaming at him, and he groans as he tries to remember what had caused the pain. His mind gives him nothing, seemingly blank as he shifts to slide off of his bed, padding towards the bathroom. 

He clicks on the light, watching the tiles pass as he walks before going up to his sink, turning on the water and splashing his face a few times. When he looks up into the mirror, he draws in a gasp, clutching at the sink so hard that he breaks it, and he feels another flash of pain. 

As his world becomes black and bleary at the edges, all he can focus on is the intense, shining brightness of his yellow eyes. He falls back then, a name on his lips that he doesn’t recognize, and welcomes the darkness that overtakes him. 

~

Allura’s pacing around the room makes Pidge want to tear their hair out, but they only let it keep going because their own anxiety is growing, clawing at the insides of their chest the more minutes that tick by. 

“Lance was supposed to check in half an hour ago,” Hunk repeats, and he’s sitting in the corner, tapping away on his computer and trying to see if he can track any of the devices they think Lance had on him. His leg is bouncing up and down at an alarming rate, and he’s scooted so close to the screen Pidge is sure there isn’t any further he could go before his nose is pressed up against it. 

“Have you gotten any closer to tracking his phone?” Allura asks, her voice lower than usual, sounding small and strained. Hunk shakes his head, which Pidge sees out of the corner of their eye, and watches as Hunk registers he needs to be vocal, as well, because Allura didn’t notice his response. 

“He has like a million decoy phones, and I have no idea which one he took with him,” Hunk says, and Pidge adjusts their glasses, taking a moment to lean back in their chair and breathe. 

“Lance always does this, he’s always late because he gets distracted. I’m sure he’s fine, the guy didn’t even know he was there watching him, anyways, we would’ve been able to tell,” Pidge reasons, and she looks over to see Hunk running a hand over his eyes, trying to calm himself down. 

Everyone in the room jumps when Allura’s phone starts ringing, and she crosses the room in a second, picking it up and putting it on speaker. 

“Hey, ‘Lura, m’so sorry for not calling, I’m fine, I just, I ran into Keith and I ended up using magic on him because I panicked? And anyways, I had to drag him out of the club without anyone being suspicious, so that took longer than expected, and I’m outside and he’s drooling on my shoulder, so can you let me in?” Lance said all in a rush, and Pidge was up in a second, going over to the door and punching in a code, opening the door downstairs when they saw Lance on the camera, a boy knocked out thrown onto his back. 

Pidge keyed in the code for the elevator and then the door that was keeping them in the room Hunk and Allura and they were in, and raised an eyebrow when Lance sauntered in. He quite gingerly set Keith down against the wall, his head lolling to the side and onto his shoulder as Lance straightened and rolled his own, stepping over Keith’s boots as he walked into the room.

Pidge rolled their eyes and locked the door behind him, returning to their seat in front of their laptop. They chanced a glance over at Allura, who seemed to be quietly fuming, and settled their head on the palm of their hand, elbow down on the table. Hunk had gotten up from his chair to give Lance a hug, and when he pulled back, he had a frown on his lips.

“How are you still awake right now? You’re energy is so low, you’re not even glowing that bright? You need to lay down, Lance,” Hunk said, and he put a hand on Lance’s shoulder and lead him over to the couch, laying him down and smearing a hand through his bangs, which were damp with sweat. 

“You shouldn’t push yourself that hard, you’re going to hurt yourself,” Hunk mumbled, and Pidge watched as Allura walked over to where they were both sitting, placing her hands on Lance’s chest. She closed her eyes and took a breath as white light began emanating from her fingertips, tendrils of the magic swooping like smoke over Lance’s chest before settling down inside. 

Lance choked and coughed a couple of times, but he kept his hands relaxed at his sides, let Allura return some of the energy that he had spent. The course of the pure magic and energy she gave him was cool and alarming, but he welcomed it, his body feeling spent and drained. He opened his mind to her when he felt her presence at the edges, quietly asking for permission even though she didn’t need it. He let the memories and events of the night pass through his mind so that she would be able to see through his eyes, and he felt her inwardly get angry when he initiated a dance with Keith. 

He blushed inwardly as he saw himself admiring Keith more than he should while they were dancing, noticing the swoop of his dark hair hanging into his eyes, the curve of his jaw and the sharpness of his cheeks, the way his hips swayed against his. Later, when Lance looked at the curve of Keith’s sharpened teeth and wasn’t afraid, but intrigued. He felt the energy, red and wanting and angry coming off of him in waves, and all towards Lance himself. Despite it all, he wasn’t afraid, except the one moment he had let his guard down, and his magic waver, and Keith became aware for a minute before he spent most of the rest of his music to calm him down again. 

It had taken even more to maintain it because the connection had been lost once, and even more so to make him fall asleep. It was the reason he was as drained as he was, and why it was important for Allura to help replenish him. Even though their magic wasn’t exactly the same, the Quintessence was all the same at its origin, before it was translated for good or evil, for fae or warlocks or vampires or werewolves. 

Lance felt it course through his body and focused on the sensation, and it felt like a breath of cool air into his lungs after being devoid of it for what felt like so long. It wasn’t much more time before he was blinking his eyes open, fluttering with the weight of Allura’s energy leaving him once she had finished looking through what had happened that night through Lance’s eyes. 

She sat back and folded her hands in her lap, sighing. “I understand why you did what you did with Keith, but I am unsure what to do with him at the current moment, now that you’ve brought him here. Now that we know Takashi Shirogane is his brother, we can move forward with trying to perhaps get him to help us. I don’t think it’s going to be easy, but it seems like we are both looking for the same thing,” She finished, and there was a snarl from the other side of the room, and Lance sat up slowly before looking to where the noise had originated. 

Lance’s magic had worn off at the about the worst time possible, and he found himself standing up, then, his hands out, palms towards him. Keith was crouched, his teeth sharp and glinting against his lip, blood running down his chin as he looked at all of them frantically. 

“Where the fuck am I, and what do you want?” Keith asked, his voice low and steady, despite his stance on the floor. 

Allura moved behind Lance, moving to the side of him so that she was visible, but not any closer to Keith than Lance was. 

“We’re not going to hurt you or do anything of the sort, we simply both have the same goal, and we wanted to know of your intentions and if you wanted to sabotage what we were after,” Allura explained, her voice cool and calm, charming as if she had added something to the edge, something that made her sound sweeter. It seemed to calm Keith slightly, and he moved from his crouching position to standing, keeping his distance and his teeth still out. 

“What are you after?” He asked, as he crossed his arms across his chest, his eyes flicking from Pidge to Hunk to Lance, lingering for a moment, his memory clouded, before resting back to Allura, since that was easiest. Keith didn’t have to think so hard, looking into her eyes, which seemed to be the cool gray of early morning, surrounded by the waves of her starlight hair. He realised she was achingly beautiful, and was taken aback by that realisation. As his eyes studied her, he noticed the boomerangs of pink framing the outer corner of her eyes and recognized it as her warlock mark, and was explained the fact of why she was so beautiful. 

“Pidge, the one in the green top, has an older brother named Matt. He was working for this rival gang led by someone named Sendak, for the larger resistance called the Galra, which I’m sure you’re familiar with?” She paused, saw recognition fall captive to Keith’s eyes and continued after a moment when he didn’t speak. 

“Matt was working undercover to get information for us, as Sendak and his superior, Zarkon, has been targeting us and others associated with us ever since my Father passed. Several months went by and he had been giving us information about gatherings and plans for an uprising before we stopped hearing anything from him at all,” She stopped for a moment, her eyes momentarily welling up with tears at the pain of thinking about it again, about how she had stupidly let him get captured all because she was blinded by her hatred for the Galra and her desires to stop them, in a moment of weakness she rarely showed. 

Lance looked over to Allura when she stopped, and his eyes shifted to Keith, and he saw softness there as his fangs retracted, and he wiped the edge of his mouth where a bit of blood had dried with the back of his hand. He put a hand to her shoulder before leaving her and taking a step closer to Keith. 

“I’m sorry for using magic on you, Keith, but we had heard rumors of this bounty hunter that had been going around and beating people up asking about the Galra and Takashi Shirogane and we needed to know why,” Lance said, and Allura reappeared once more, her eyes wiped dry. 

“We don’t know of anyone else who had interest in taking down the Galra and we needed to figure out why, Keith. I’m sorry for our unconventional methods, but we’ve never encountered this type of situation before, and honestly, we are inept at knowing how to handle it at all,” Allura said, and she felt a surge of hope seeing the look in Keith’s eyes, at how much he had opened up since he had woken up. With his fangs gone and his posture relaxed, Allura could see the remnants of memories that she still had from Lance, when he had spent time admiring him. 

“I remember telling Lance that Takashi is my brother, which he is. The only reason I’m looking for him is because he went undercover for the Galra as well when he stopped hearing from his boyfriend, Matt. He knew that he was working for them but didn’t know why he just suddenly stopped talking for him, so he started snooping around and looking for clues. It wasn’t long before I lost all communication with him as well. I told him not to do it, but he couldn’t stop himself from looking for Matt,” Keith shared, and it was a moment before there was a slam against the table. They all looked over to see Pidge fuming, their tiny fist clenched together from when they had punched it. 

“I can’t believe he didn’t tell me he was dating anyone! What happened to the sacred bond between siblings? I wonder why he didn’t want to tell me,” They wondered aloud, their voice soft and sad, their body visibly drooping before collapsing into their folded arms on the table. 

“I mean, Shiro never told me that Matt had a sibling? And Shiro’s a vampire as I am, I’m not sure if Matt wanted you to know, if I’m being honest? It tends to freak out mortals, more often than not,” Keith offered, and Pidge mumbled something unintelligible against their arms. 

“I mean, he definitely didn’t tell me when he got bit by a werewolf, all I knew is that all of the sudden I was able to see all of these things that I thought probably existed but I just didn’t have the ability to see and Matt was gone? And I had all of these questions, and not even an opportunity to ask him about it,” Pidge said, rising their head just enough to rest their chin on their arms so that everyone could hear them and so that her voice wasn’t muffled like it previously was. 

Keith looked surprised for a moment, his nose scrunching up. “Matt got turned?” He asked quickly, and he looked around at all of their faces before setting on Lance, who nodded his head firmly. 

“If it’s any consolation, I always really commended your ability to believe in all of this even when you weren’t able to see it. I always wished I had been able to tell you, but,” Hunk says, piping in after being very quiet, having been typing away at his computer and listening, probably just keeping an eye on their security cameras. He trails off and looks over to Pidge to give them a smile, which Pidge half heartedly returns. 

“Thanks Hunk, but all I know is that I’m tired and need to go to sleep after worrying about Lance for as long as I had to. It’s enough of him for a whole month, I’m telling you,” Pidge says, shutting their laptop and going to move towards another doorway, pressing their fingerprint against the scanner. They give a wave to Keith. 

“Nice meeting you, I’ve never seen a vampire up close before, very impressive,” Pidge says, and then the door closes behind them. 

“Love you too, Pidgeon,” Lance calls out, his voice getting weaker at the end at the door shut right behind them as he finished his sentiment. He looks over to see a slight smile playing on Keith’s lips, despite everything. 

“As much as I don’t appreciate Lance using magic to get information from me and knock me out, he could’ve done a lot worse, so I am grateful. In regards to finding Shiro, I’m willing to do whatever it takes. So if it means joining up with you guys and finding Matt as well, than I’m in,” Keith says all in one go, and Lance looks to Allura at her side, her posture visibly relaxing with relief. 

“I am eternally grateful, there are a few shortcomings on our team with what we are limited to, and it would be amazing to have help from your kind,” Allura said, and Keith raised an eyebrow, taking a few steps closer to them, then, feeling as if now that they were going to work together, they didn’t need to be practically yelling across the room to speak to each other. 

Up closer, Keith recognized the blue of Lance’s eyes, the colors that had haunted the dreams he had been overcome with as soon as Lance had knocked him out. It became clear to him that Lance was going to be a problem, at the rate that Keith continued to check him out. 

“I’m willing to share the information that I have as long as you share what you have back,” Keith offers, and Allura shakes her head in affirmation.


	3. all of the voices in my mind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As he fell asleep, it was still to the same blue. In his dreams, he watched a very alive version of himself dancing around in circles with Lance, their hands clasped, a blush along his cheeks as his hair curled up around his cheeks and bounced as he moved. He watched himself tip his head back in laughter as Lance peppered kisses along his cheeks, his fingers getting tangled in his hair, as they slowed down to a stop, standing in a field drenched in sunshine. 
> 
> He felt an ache where his heart should be, as the dream descended into darkness. 
> 
> He’d never craved being human so much since he had Turned, and had everything taken away from him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope you enjoy! for the texting, the messages with > before them are lance, and >> before them are keith!!

“As you know, the Galra have been infiltrating the different clans for ages, turning those who come under their control into.. A different kind? We have been trying to research the process and the effects, but have only come as far as what we have encountered while trying to get information,” 

“Yeah, I’ve come into contact with a few of those.. creatures,” Keith said with a grimace, and Lance slid his hand into his pockets. 

“Hunk and I knocked one out once,” He said coolly, leaning back on his heels, and Allura pushed at his shoulder playfully, causing him to stumble. Lance quickly righted himself, running a hand through his hair to try and distract from his fumble. 

“You both got very lucky in that encounter, Lance,” Allura told him, as she then moved to her computer, clicking around and trying to find the right files. Keith and Lance moved to her desk to look over her shoulder at what she was bringing up. 

“Who knew rolling a trash can off a flight of apartment stairs could knock ‘em out, huh?” Hunk mumbled, and he got up from his desk then, turning off his monitor and making his way towards the door that Pidge had exited from. 

“I’m going to get some sleep, guys. I have so much surveillance camera footage to go through, and I want to be awake enough to take in the information. See you in a few hours,” He said with a small wave, and went through the door once it had opened, which closed behind him. 

Allura brought up a few case files, but the most important one was everything that they knew about Matt before he went missing. 

“Matt was on the inside trying to find information about this uprising. We had seen flyers and a lot of talk happening around the black markets and the nightclubs designated for supernaturals as we’ve all been frequenting them. He volunteered to go in since he had the Sight and wouldn’t have to deal with concealing his powers or anything of the like,” 

Allura took a little sigh, scrolling down the page and coming up on several pictures of an abandoned apartment. 

“Matt was staying separate from this base just to make sure that they couldn’t track him. We’re still not sure who tipped them off, but the day after he dropped off a flash drive at our designated spot in the park that’s ten minutes away from his apartment, we didn’t hear from him for two weeks. We spied on the apartment and went in to find it empty, as you see in these pictures, and several things broken. There was evidence of a scuffle, and smeared blood that we identified as Matt’s across the kitchen counter,” 

She continued scrolling through the pictures, and Keith leaned in a little, biting at his lower lip as he watched. Lance’s eyes went over to his briefly, looking at his bottom lip and the puncture wounds that were still fresh there. He realised he was staring after a few brief moments and looked away quickly, looking back to the computer screen and the case file that he’d already spent hours pouring over, searching for more clues that they might’ve missed. 

As Allura continued through the document, he noticed the droop in her shoulders and the slowness of her voice as the hours ticked by. He felt exhaustion weighing on him just as heavily, though it seemed as if the energy had left her light dull and waning. Lance moved to place a hand on her shoulder, strong and steady. 

“Hey, ‘Lura, I think you should go and get some sleep,” He murmured, and she turned to look up at him, blinking slowly. 

“But it’s important that we explain to Keith-”

“I think we all deserve a little sleep. I understand most of what has happened, but I think if we convene tomorrow we can solidify a plan. I can read these files on my own time,” Keith adds in, effectively cutting her off without any malice intended. Lance nods, and Allura sighs as she hums in approval. 

“We’ll meet back here tomorrow. I’ll let everyone know over the system,” She says, and gets up from her chair and stifles a yawn. Once she’s left the room, Lance looks over at Keith who’s still leaning up against the other side of Allura’s desk, his hands shoved in his pockets. It’s a moment before he’s looking up, his hair hanging into his eyes, and focuses his gaze on Lance. 

“Well, I’ll get going then,” Keith says, and Lance watches as he rights himself on his feet and starts walking for the door that he had been brought through. 

“I mean, if you leave then you won’t know how to come back since you were unconscious for the whole way here,” Lance says, and Keith turns back and raises an eyebrow. 

“I’m sure you won’t have any trouble finding me, pretty boy,” Keith says, his voice a bit lower, and mocking at the end as he echoes the pet name he had just used on him only hours earlier at the club. Lance finds his cheeks warm up despite everything, and steps forward to hand Keith his cell phone. 

“Put your number in and I’ll text you,” Lance mumbles out, decidedly not meeting Keith’s eyes. He hears Keith huff out half a laugh, taking the phone from him and tapping out his number. He hands it back, and Lance finds he has texted a new contact named “Pretty Boy”. Keith has his phone out of his pocket then, and he texts a reply back. 

“So you know that I didn’t give you a random number,” Keith says, as Lance’s phone buzzes as his message reaches him. Lance nods, and watches as Keith steps up to the door and it slides open, and he ducks as he leaves. Lance finds himself staring down at his phone again. 

>hi  
>>ur name in my phone is pretty fae boy, just if you wanted to know  
>stealing my nicknames now, i see? 

Lance sends the message back, and starts walking towards his bedroom. He gets there and has his shirt and jeans thrown off as he slips into the covers before his phone buzzes with another message. 

>>i don't see you complaining  
>you’ve got me there.  
>gnite pretty boy 

~

When Keith gets home, he throws himself onto his back on his bed, a hand splayed across his chest and one behind his head, and sighs even though he knows he doesn’t need to. It’s surprising to him, how many habits he picks up to appear human that still happen without him even thinking about it anymore, when he doesn’t even have to play pretend. 

Lance’s eyes swirled in his memory, the bright blue blossoming at the backs of his eyelids as he slid his eyes closed. He went over the few messages that they had sent back and forth as Keith made his way home, although he made it in no time at all, being able to track the scent even though he was miles away. He felt a strange warmth in his body, then, and wondered if it was the remnants of Lance’s magic still lingering in his veins. 

It had been a while since he had felt longing for being human. For being aware of taking a breath when seeing someone beautiful, for thinking about them and wishing to feel the pounding of his heart in his chest and finding nothing. There are ghosting echoes there, and his hand on his chest moves up to rest over where his own lies dormant. 

Lance makes him want to be human again. Just so he could feel all of the things that he had not given thought to in ages, give physical response to the meaning and all of the thoughts swirling in his head. 

He thinks of Shiro, then, somewhere out in the world and his own heart feeling cold, but still aching for Matt. Keith wonders if the dull pounding in his head is something akin to all of these emotions that are overwhelming him in a way that he couldn’t ignore even if he wanted to. 

It seems like these kinds of things would only happen to him, meeting a cute faerie at a club that for all intents and purposes, he fell prey to his magic far too quickly for the kind of reputation that he had. Whether Lance had more power than it appeared or Keith was weak to his charm, it was enough to make him want to curl up from secondhand embarrassment for himself as he remembered what had happened at the club. He had been seconds away from biting Lance for no other reason than just wanting to taste him, because it wasn’t like he was hungry, as he had fed plenty earlier that day. He hadn’t had an inclination to taste since he had first Turned and he didn’t know how to control the thirst. 

Keith feels sleep pulling at him from the edges of his consciousness and curls up in the opposite direction he was laying, leaving his eyes closed. He would need to stop all of these thoughts if he still intended on having his head clear and set on finding Shiro. Distractions like Lance needed to be cut off immediately, and he had let himself wander and mull over the topic for far too long. 

As he fell asleep, it was still to the same blue. In his dreams, he watched a very alive version of himself dancing around in circles with Lance, their hands clasped, a blush along his cheeks as his hair curled up around his cheeks and bounced as he moved. He watched himself tip his head back in laughter as Lance peppered kisses along his cheeks, his fingers getting tangled in his hair, as they slowed down to a stop, standing in a field drenched in sunshine. 

He felt an ache where his heart should be, as the dream descended into darkness. 

He’d never craved being human so much since he had Turned, and had everything taken away from him.


	4. color crimson in my eyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He perks up at the sound of a voice, and he cocks his head at the slight familiarity of it. He takes a moment, mulling it over in his mind, at why he knows this voice, and having no way of figuring out why it sounds so off. It’s a moment later before the entire door swings open, flooding the small room with the same familiar, sickening yellow light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> since these two chapters are so short, I decided to just post them together. happy reading, feel free to leave kudos or comments on the fic if you'd like!!

When Lance wakes up the next morning, he definitely feels the absence of the usual amount of energy that he has. What happened with Keith yesterday took more out of him than he had originally expected, especially because he had no time to prepare for the type of magic that he had expended. 

He also wasn’t ready for the amount of connection that still lingered in his bones from having to work so hard on keeping Keith subdued. 

As he lays in bed, his eyes still shut, watching the swirling galaxies of color that resided at the back of his eyelids, he sees flashes of images. He sees violet eyes surrounded by thick, black lashes, blinking up at him the in the entranced state that Lance had cast him into. He feels the ghost of Keith’s skin underneath his touch, the tendrils of his magic that had slipped into his mind and coaxed him to be calm making his fingers itch where they rest against the sheets. 

For some reason, he aches for him. 

When they had danced, moments before the magic had properly set in to Keith on the dance floor, the lights shifting over the pale tone of his skin, Lance had thought about how pretty he was. He had noticed, over the weeks that he had spent observing Keith from afar. He knew that it was important for him to separate his feelings from his subject, especially when it was as important as this, as finding Matt was, it hurt more than he had anticipated. 

There was a palpable feeling that presided between them, even before they had set eyes on each other and met. He had never encountered another supernatural who had made him feel this way, and he had spent hours in the library of Allura’s house, pouring over texts and trying to see if this had ever happened to anyone else. 

A fae and a vampire? It has happened, but it’s generally an unlikely story. Many supernaturals stayed within their own, though it had become more common lately to have intermixing. He wondered if it was magic, if Keith had something else in his blood that wasn’t as obvious in plain sight. Lance had briefly been inside his mind, through his magic, of course, but he had no blaring light that obviously told him the answer to all of the riddles in his head. 

He sighs, heavily, blinking open his eyes and staring up at the ceiling. It’s early in the morning, and the room is washed over by a pale blue light that casts a pretty glow over all of the objects there. Lance had things everywhere, fae royalty robes lying crumpled over the back of his desk chair, several potion ingredients strewn across his desk, questionable liquids of varying colors still presiding in little bottles. He has books piled on top of each other in tall stacks in the corners, and Lance wiggles his fingers to usher his desk lamp light on. 

Lance reaches for his phone then, rereading over the messages that Keith and him had sent back and forth last night after he had left. His fingers hover over the touch screen before typing out a message and sending it without hesitation. 

> send me ur address, i’ll come pick u up in an hour 

He throws his phone back onto the bed after turning the sound on so he can hear the notification if Keith texts him back, and goes about getting ready. Lance takes a quick shower, the overly hot water he chooses scalding his skin pink as he scrubs at himself, waking himself up as the tendrils of water fall over his skin. 

He stares at the markings on his arms, sighs at the ones that are no longer silver and clear, the ones that have grown dark and the color of deep red wine, staining his skin. He doesn’t know how long he stands there, willing himself to not let the feelings bubble up again in his throat, and shuts the water off. 

He towels off, returns to his phone to see Keith has messaged him back with his address. Lance throws on a pair of leggings and a long tshirt, shoving his feet into boots as he texts Keith back telling him that he is on his way. 

He mumbles some fae underneath his breath, the language rolling off his tongue as he does the right hand gestures towards the blank space of wall in his room, and feels some of his energy leave him as a small portal swirls open, emitting blue light. There’s a loud rushing noise in his ears as he grabs his bag and slings it over his shoulder, before stepping into the portal and having his whole world upended, the vision before his eyes being flooded with bright, white light. 

~

The room that they had been holding him in was dark and damp, and he couldn’t hear anything besides the noise of his breathing. Every few hours, a slit at the top of the door, higher than his general eyesight line, would open and let in a strange yellow light, making him close his eyes in pain at the sudden clarity it provides him. Occasionally, he could hear words in another language that he couldn’t make out, the voices low and garbled and completely alien to anything he had ever heard before. 

Sometimes, they would drop in food, even though it did nothing to satiate the burning in his throat, the craving for blood. His fangs had extracted enough times for there to be a permanent marking on his lower lip from where it had been punctured, and the wound is unable to heal due to his fangs never wanting to retract. His whole body aches, in a way that he has never experienced in so long, ever since he had been Turned and didn’t have to worry about what usually bothered him as a human. 

When the slit opens again, he hisses quietly underneath his breath at it, tired of these endless cycles, of sitting for extended periods of time that he is unable to keep track of. He has been in endless cycles of sleep and awake, the darkness never ending, the dreams unsatisfying and making him ache in other ways than his thirst ever could. 

He perks up at the sound of a voice, and he cocks his head at the slight familiarity of it. He takes a moment, mulling it over in his mind, at why he knows this voice, and having no way of figuring out why it sounds so off. It’s a moment later before the entire door swings open, flooding the small room with the same familiar, sickening yellow light. 

Standing in front of him is someone he never thought he would see again. 

“Shiro!” He croaks out, his voice weak and cracking halfway through, and he feels tears well up in his eyes, foreign to him. He reaches up to wipe them away as a few stream down his cheeks, and finds streaks of blood there, instead, staining his entire hand crimson. 

He goes to stand up, finding his legs weakly as Shiro’s figure stands there, arms crossed over his chest. He’s dressed in a suit of armor that he’s never seen before, purple in hue and making him appear much larger than he usually is. As his eyes take him in, they look up to his hair, a large chunk of the front of it now silvery white, and he frantically looks over him, at all of these changes, as his eyes meet his. He stumbles back, his arm that was held out in front of him, reaching for him, falling to his side weakly. Shiro’s eyes are glowing yellow, the same foreign color, the unrecognizable emotion in them shocking Matt to his core. 

“Hello, Matt. It’s been awhile since I’ve seen you,” He says, inclining his head towards him. There is no love in his eyes, devoid of anything else but a coldness he has never known from Shiro. His voice is different, edged with something that he has never sounded like before in his life, lower and more garbled. 

“Guards, seize the prisoner. It’s time we asked him some questions,” He calls out, when Matt can’t find any words, more tears falling from his eyes as he desperately tries to understand what has happened to the man that he loves. He falls to his knees on the floor, as the guards he had called, two large, muscled men, come into the room and surround him. They’re dressed in similar purple armor, however it’s more cheap looking, predominantly made of battered red and black plates, misshapen to their figures. It leads Matt to believe that Shiro is of a higher power, than them, if he hadn’t already noticed by the way that Shiro ordered them around. They grab him by his arms, lifting him up with no difficulty.

He lets himself be dragged down the hallway, and closes his eyes to the yellow light that surrounds and drowns him.


	5. i've been looking for a love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Well, now you’re just showing off,” Lance mumbles, and Keith cocks his head to the side, a questioning look on his face. 
> 
> “And you’re not with those leggings?,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'll be at my tumblr peachykeiths if you wanna come chat with me about voltron or this fic!! hope you enjoy. :^)

Lance steps through the portal to find himself in a dark alleyway, wedged inbetween two red brick buildings. There are metal staircases attached to the sides of them, leading up to windows that are dotted intermittently up the building that reaches up into the gray sky. As Lance looks around, he sees a ladder reaching down low enough that he can climb up on it to his right, and he steps up to it and begins to climb. 

As he does, a few droplets begin to fall from the sky, splashing onto his cheeks as he looks up to the platform that he’s climbing onto. As he makes his way up, looking around and seeing another set of stairs that he can climb up on, the window attached to the platform slides open, and Keith pops his head out. 

“Hey,” He says, and Lance jumps, had been looking the other way at the set of stairs instead of the window. He puts a hand to his chest, turning over to him with an incredulous look on his face, his eyebrows raised up into the drying fringe of his hair. 

“Keith, what the fuck,” He mumbles, and the corner of Keith’s mouth quirks up as he gives him a quick once over, before returning to his eyes. Lance catches him at the end of it, a small smirk working it’s way onto his lips as he realises what Keith had done. 

“Like my outfit?” He asks, putting his hands on his hips then, tilting his chin up. At that, Keith lets a small laugh bubble out of him, and Lance’s heart starts to beat a little faster in his chest. It’s possibly the cutest fucking thing he’d ever heard in his life. 

“I can always appreciate someone with a good ass in leggings,” He mumbles, tucking some hair behind his ear before he climbs out of the window frame, closing the window shut behind him. He stands there, shoving his hands into the pockets of his black, ripped jeans as Lance kinda stands there, mouth slightly open. 

“When did you even see my ass?” Lance asks, lamely, his voice quieter than he would’ve wanted. Keith shrugs his shoulders, his hair brushing the collar of his leather jacket. 

“I watched you come up the stairs. I heard your portal, so,” He explains, tapping the toe of his boots against the metal platform, making it ring with solid thumps. 

Lance raises an eyebrow, looking at him for a moment, taking in how handsome he was, standing there in the rain with his pretty eyes and soft hair. He feels his heart warm with how much he wants to reach out and touch him. 

“So are we going to go back and figure out a plan, or are you going to keep checking me out?” Keith continues, then, because Lance hasn’t said a word and instead has been standing there, doing exactly what he said. He nods, because for some reason Keith tends to steal all of the words out of his mouth, and goes to walk back down the ladder he had come up. He expects Keith to follow him when instead he hears a thump on the ground, and when he lowers himself down from the ladder, he looks over to see Keith standing there, watching him, hands still in his pockets. 

“Well, now you’re just showing off,” Lance mumbles, and Keith cocks his head to the side, a questioning look on his face. 

“And you’re not with those leggings?,” He shakes his head then, a soft scoff leaving his lips. “Open the portal, Lance,” At his words, Lance flushes pink, turning towards the brick wall that he had exited from his portal and drawing his hands out in the proper pattern. He mutters the words under his breath, tongue curling over his teeth as they leave his mouth, and watching as his hands glow, growing the pale blue portal in seconds once again. 

He looks over to Keith, and motions him over. 

“Ever been through a portal before?” Lance asks, and Keith shakes his head. 

“I’ve been through a warlock’s, once, but never a fae’s,” He explains, and Lance nods. 

“You’re gonna wanna hold my hand for this, then,” He says, and he offers his hand palm up, fingers spread. There’s still some magic swirling around the tips of his fingers, lingering. Keith looks at him, looks at his hand, and doesn’t say a word further as he takes his hand in his, tangling their fingers together. Lance lets them drop to his side, and he steps through the portal first, the weight of Keith’s cold hand in his anchoring him even as his vision clears. 

~ 

When Lance and Keith arrive back at the safehouse, everyone else is already up and in the main room. Pidge is typing furiously on their laptop, lip between their teeth as they lean into the screen, completely enraptured in what their doing. Hunk has headphones on, leaning back in his chair with his head resting on his hand folded into a fist, eyelids drooping low. Lance notices how they both look like they’ve been devoid of sleep. 

Allura, however, looks the worst, as the skin underneath her eyes is colored a deep purply blue, and her hair is messily through up into a bun on the top of her head. She’s leaned over her desk, writing onto a document with a pen, her tongue stuck out as she concentrates. 

When they both enter the room, she’s the only person that looks up at the sound of their footfall. 

“Good morning, Lance, Keith,” She murmurs, and her voice is tired, her accent coloring the ends of her words, however soft spoken she is being. They approach her desk and Lance perches on top of it, resting his elbow on the crook of his knee as he folds his leg underneath himself, resting his head there. 

“Earlier this morning I got a very intriguing lead,” She mentions, and Keith finds himself settling into one of the arm chairs in front of Allura’s desk. He leans forward, resting his arms on his knees as he looks to her. 

“My family friend, Coran, owns a pub that is strictly supernatural. He got invites to this grand party that’s happening tomorrow night, and he thinks it’s being held by a benefactor that supports the Galra. I have two tickets, and I want you and Keith to attend together and see what you can find out. There’s another thing also working in our favor, it’s a masquerade,” As she finishes, setting her pen down finally and leaning back in her chair, Lance looks over to see Keith, his eyebrows set in a straight line, a determined look in his eyes. They’re turned darker, Lance notices, before realises he’s staring before turning his attention back to Allura. 

“Is it being held by someone named Thace?” Keith asks, voice low, and Allura nods her head, a surprised look on her face. 

“How did you know?” She asks, simply curious as she looks to Keith. 

“I’ve been trying to get an invitation to one of his parties for months. A lot of Galra benefactors attend, and there’s talk of a secret meeting that happens at the end for every one for the select members there that decide to donate their money or services to the Galra cause,” Keith explains, and Allura nods, her mouth becoming set in a line. 

“Then it’s imperative that you remain undercover and find a way into that secret meeting. It’s the only real lead we’ve had in months, despite finding you, Keith,” She says, and looks over to Lance, who’s been weirdly quiet throughout this whole thing. 

“Lance, what’s wrong?” Allura asks, and Lance looks up to her, startled when he realises that she’s talking to him. He’s seem to have paled considerably, over the last few minutes. 

“I just- I was thinking about Hunk and I’s run in last time with one of the Galra’s, and I mean, we barely got out of that alive? We were so lucky. I’m afraid that we’re going to run into more, if we go to this party,” Lance gets out, his voice very low and soft. 

“Lance, I have all of my confidence in you that you will be able to remain disguised throughout the party, and I’m sure even if you see any of the Galra, you won’t have to worry about having an encounter with them,” Allura reassures him, reaching out to place a hand on the arm resting on his knee. Her touch is warm on his arm, and comforting. 

“And plus, you have me,” Keith mumbles, and Lance looks over to him, surprised. 

“I’m sure we’ll make a great team,” He continues, after taking a moment, and Lance wonders if he wasn’t a vampire, if he would be blushing right now. He thinks about how Keith would look with a flush to his cheeks, how attractive that would be, and his thought process derails from the insecurity and anxiety that was overtaking him a moment ago. 

“Thanks, Keith,” He says, a small smile on his lips, and they’re gazing into each other's eyes for probably a moment too long, before they’re both snapped out of it by Pidge making their way over to them. 

“So, I took the liberty of researching places for you guys to go get some suits for this party, since you need to look the part,” They hand over a piece of paper to Lance, with an address scribbled on it in green gel pen. 

“Thanks, Pidgeon,” Lance chirps, and slides it into his bag. 

“You’ll both need to get ready for the party. Go and get your suits and masks and charge it to this credit card,” She slides over a plastic card, a silver sheen to it, and Lance takes it as well. “Pidge and Hunk have been working on some tech for you guys to take to aid in your mission, and they’ll brief you on it when you get back from the store,” Allura continues, and Lance smiles at her. 

“Sweet!” He says, and looks over to Keith, excitement in his eyes. Keith looks less so, but there is a hint of a smile on his lips that says otherwise, despite his trying hard not to look the part. 

Lance slides off the table then, gesturing for Keith to follow.

“Another portal awaits!” He yells, and Pidge rolls their eyes at they make their way back to their laptop. Keith trails behind him, wondering what he had done to deserve to have these people thrust into his life.


	6. i feel the chemicals burn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “It’s going to be okay, Lance, but you’re going to have to trust me."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope you enjoy! you can always find me at my tumblr peachykeiths.

Keith and Lance portal a few blocks down from where the party is supposed to take place. As they walk down the sidewalk, Lance straightens his tie, and Keith watches all of the limos that stream by down the road. They’re all long and sleek and black, and all Keith can deduct from this is that everyone attending this party are ridiculously rich. 

Even though he had been alive for a considerable amount of time, he’d never really seen the point in hoarding endless amounts of money. He’d always just kept enough to keep up a bare minimum lifestyle, as he didn’t need much anyways to survive. It gave him a good but small apartment in a nice part of the city, close enough to everything he would ever need access to. 

The gigs that he did always paid an ample amount for some extra spending money, which he didn’t mind from time to time. Keith thinks of how he hasn’t heard from Nyma or Rolo in a few days and he hopes for a moment that they’re okay. They usually go off radar for awhile when Rolo happens to Change, and Nyma takes care of him until she can coax him back into his human form. Keith hadn’t had time to check on them as he usually does because he’s been focusing so much on finding Shiro, and he feels guilt spread through his veins at the thought of it. He knows that Nyma and Rolo would tell him that he shouldn’t feel guilty and that they understand he’s so concerned about Shiro, but it still tugs at him. 

He’s pulled out of his thoughts by Lance jabbing his elbow into the upper part of his arm. Keith looks over to him, his eyes inclining upwards slightly as Lance had a few inches on him, especially with dress shoes on. He tries to ignore how good he looks in his suit, colored a midnight blue, with no tie and his undershirt unbuttoned a few down to expose a golden expanse of chest. He quickly looks up to his bright blue eyes, framed by a mask colored jewel tones of purple and emerald, peacock feathers blooming off of the left side. 

“Are you ready?” He asks, and Keith looks forward to see that they’re approaching all of the vehicles pulled up in a circular drop off area. There are people streaming out of the cars, all of them quite a diverse set of supernatural types. The building the party is being held in is large, made of sharp, angular walls jutting out in different directions and large bay windows exposing the crowds of people and shifting lights inside, even from a distance. The doors that are being held wide open by servants in purple suits are bracketed by men wearing black, flipping through lists before letting people inside. There’s a line that’s formed, and they’re both approaching the end of it. 

Keith looks through the crowd that’s formed, and there’s so many couples that have formed. There’s a few groups of people that appear as friends, but they’re few and far inbetween all of the people who are standing close, with arms looped through the other’s, hands clasped between them, laying kisses on cheeks. He looks back to Lance, who’s running a hand through his hair, obviously nervous, and Keith places a hand at his arm. 

“It’s going to be okay, Lance, but you’re going to have to trust me,” He says, as they take a few steps closer as the line moves on. Keith lets his hand slide down and tangles his fingers with Lance’s. Lance is looking at him as he does it, and his eyes widen slightly as Keith holds his hand, but he doesn’t say anything. Keith lets himself stand a little closer to him, and is even more overwhelmed by the smell of his cologne and the underlying smell of the earth and woods. 

He can feel his pulse beating fast against his wrist, and takes note of his warmth and tries not to get distracted by it. Their shoulders brush as they move and Keith swallows, one couple ahead of them before they’re next. 

When it’s their turn, Keith surprisingly takes the lead, letting Lance follow slightly behind him, their hands still clasped together. Lance notices that his grip becomes tighter as they walk up to the person with the list. When he looks at him, he notices that his eyes are glowing a bright yellow, and suppresses a shudder. 

“Good evening, sir, I’m Damian Blackwood, and this is my husband, Jace,” The man nods and lifts a few pages of the list, trailing the names with his finger as he looks for them. He flips through a few times, looks up at them before looking to someone standing behind the door and motioning him over. Keith, despite the way that he squeezes Lance’s palm, appears completely calm as the man walks over and the one with the list leans over to whisper into his ear. When he pulls back, the man nods, looking to the both of them for a moment before offering a smile. 

“Come with me, I hear you’re guests of Coran Altea’s, you have reserved seats waiting for you,” The man says, and Keith can feel Lance’s heart skip a beat, and when he looks over at him, the relief in his eyes are enough to make Keith feel himself relax. If his heart still beat, he would be sure it would’ve been heavy in his throat, at that moment. 

He follows Lance as he follow the man showing them to their seats, keeping their hands closely clasped together. Keith stays as close to him as space allows, as they walk inside the intensity of people becomes very obvious. The music playing is loud and the conversation is even louder, and Keith focuses on Lance’s breathing, instead, so that it doesn’t get to be too much. The lights are even more distracting as the shifting colors change different parts of the room varying colors, as they slide over tables and walls and the people curled around each other on the dance floor. 

Keith also finds that he hasn’t seen so many different types of magical beings in one room. It’s incredibly dizzying and satisfying, he keeps searching for all of the Warlock’s marks, the color of the werewolves eyes, the tint to the fae’s skin to see what element they’re aligned to. He sees vampires of all different ages Turned, even the majestic, pearlescent skin of those who have seen centuries. He sees the Galra, with their eyes glowing that horrible shade of yellow, the servants with that haze of purplish red around their eyes, the diamond glint in their irises of electric purple, signifying their influence from the Galra. Their movements are almost robotic in nature due to this, although they continue to breathe and blink and respond to other people and things happening around them. 

The man signals to a table with all of the seats empty, but their place markers have their name on them. Lance lets go of Keith’s hand and Keith briefly notes the emptiness quite strongly, as Lance pulls out his chair for him and Keith murmurs a thank you before sitting down. Lance pushes him in before sitting down himself, and the man that had guided them there gives them a single nod of his head. 

“I hope you two enjoy your night,” He says, and he disappears into the crowd before they have a chance to say anything. Keith turns to Lance, and notices his pupils blown wide, as he licks his lips nervously. 

“That was the most nervous I’ve been in awhile,” Lance says, his voice incredibly quiet, but Keith catches it since he’s been tuned into him this whole time. 

“I’m surprised that you came up with names for us so fast,” Lance continues, and Keith raises an eyebrow at him before leaning back into his chair slightly, relaxing for the first time since they had seen the building in the distance initially from the sidewalk. 

“Oh? I’d like to take credit for that, but Allura made them up for us,” Keith admits, ruffling the hair at the back of his neck with a sheepish smile, and Lance smiles, a bit shy. 

“I’m just glad that it worked out,” He finishes, casting his eyes downwards to the ground because he can’t take how adorable Lance looks with that smile on his face. 

While he’s looking down, Lance’s eyes don’t leave him once. He takes a moment to admire Keith with his guard down, and his eyes travel the curve of his cheekbones and the way that his hair, raven black and dipping down into his collar, frames the edges of his pale skin, creating a contrast that is achingly beautiful. The eyelashes of his downcast eyes are long and curved, and are still evident even behind his mask, which is made of a beautiful marbled silk of sunset colors, bright reds and oranges and yellows melding together, several carefully placed rhinestones shimmering in the shifting lights. His suit, colored a deep maroon, compliments his hair and his skin even more, and his open suit jacket shows a peek of black suspenders, and the crisp black button down folded neatly and buttoned up to the pale and clean expanse of his neck. 

Lance swallows again, and as he looks away, Keith looks up. 

“We should probably walk around, see what we can hear,” Keith says, and Lance nods, gets up from his chair and offers Keith his hand. 

“Dance with me again, pretty boy?” He asks, a smirk curling up at the edges of his lips, and Keith mirrors him, a moment later. 

“Of course, husband,” Keith says, and laughs quietly when he notices Lance balk at him for a moment, opening his mouth to say something but having nothing come out. 

As Keith begins to lead them to the dance floor, he turns his head back to find Lance with his mouth closed, but his eyebrows still screwed together in such an endearing way. 

“Never thought that even after as long as we’ve been married, I’d still be able to fluster you,” He says, and Lance’s eyes get a little wider at that, and Keith brings him around to the front of him as he finds a spot on the dance floor. Keith pulls him close, their chests almost touching as he wraps his hands around his waist, able to feel Lance’s breath on his lips. 

“Am I sweeping you off your feet, too?” Keith asks, one eyebrow quirked up, smirk still on his lips, and Lance glances down to find them both just standing and looking at each other, but not moving. 

“I- yeah, let’s dance,” Lance gets out, and Keith giggles under his breath as Lance’s cheeks go bright pink. His hands find Keith’s hips, and Keith tries to not focus on how warm his hands are, and how good they feel there, how they feel like they fit like no one else’s ever has. They find a rhythm to the beat, against each other, easily fitting into the way that they had previously danced when they had first met. 

Keith tries to jump from different people’s conversation, not really focusing on the movements of his body, as moving against Lance almost came naturally to him. He tried not to focus on the fact that it was odd that they could be this way even though they barely knew each other, but left it down to the fact that it may be that they’re just a good team. That idea sat right in his brain for the moment, so he let his mind wander as he caught bits and pieces of conversations around them. 

He felt Lance’s hand fiddle as he adjusted a watch on his wrist, a piece of tech that had been given to him by Pidge. The watch was connected to a hidden earpiece that was concealed by the sides of his mask, which curled around his head. It happened to pick up on any signals or interferences in the area, so if the Galra were communicating by any technology, Lance would be able to hear it. 

Keith was idly going through different voices, having them loud in his ear as he moved, and he was going more and more impatient by the minute, the more that he had to listen to mundane conversation. He kept himself from freezing when he heard a familiar name, instead dropping his head to Lance’s shoulder, turning his head so that his lips were brushing his neck. He tried to ignore the fact that Lance’s whole body shuddered at the contact, took it for him being surprised and whispered in his ear. 

“I think we should go and get some drinks,” He murmured there, and his soft voice tickled the shell of Lance’s ear, his cheeks again claiming the pink color that had been there earlier when Keith had been teasing him. He looked back to see Lance peering at him curiously before looking over to the bar, and when it focused on the bartender his entire face drained of color, his eyes widening in recognition.


	7. i've been spinning out of time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As they sat down, Lance felt sadness hanging heavy on his shoulders. He knew how it felt to be so close to something only to have it so far, to just have it in reach past your fingertips only to not have the strength to reach farther.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for following along and i hope you enjoy this next chapter!! again, you can always find me at my tumblr peachykeiths. 
> 
> also, much thanks to sawyer (lumberjackwiki) for being there for me and reminding me to post this and cheering me on and giving me lots of love in the comments. all of this is for you.

“Matt,” He murmured, his mouth dry, the word becoming soft and fading as it left his mouth. His entire body stopped moving, and he felt like his mind froze in place as he took in Matt, mixing together drinks mechanically, his eyes glazed over and not really looking at anything at all. He didn’t know how long it was until he recognized Keith’s voice in his ear, low and eager. 

“Lance, we can’t just stand here, we have to move, c’mon,” He says, and when it doesn’t work, he takes his hand and starts making his way through the dance floor. It’s hard making a way through all of the people, as they’re all so closely pressed against one another, and Keith has to backtrack and go around other ways when he finds he can’t find a path through. 

It’s when they are about to clear the edge of the crowd, Keith looks up to orient himself, see if they’d gone the right way, when he sees him. He reacts similarly to how Lance did, becoming incredibly still, which had another meaning when it came to a vampire. He didn’t do anything, didn’t pretend to breathe, to blink, didn’t bother doing anything except keeping his eyes locked on the figure who crowded in next to Matt. 

Shiro put an arm around the upper part of Matt’s arm, and used enough pressure that Matt reciprocated and looked up to him, a flash in his eyes before returning back to being dull and lifeless. He said something to him that Keith didn’t catch, as Lance ran straight into the back of him without looking, since he had stopped moving. He peered around Keith’s head, his other hand that wasn’t in his settling at his lower back without him even thinking about it. 

When he saw Shiro, all of the color drained out of his face. 

Shiro was dressed nicely in a black and white suit, fitted with a purple silk pocket square, and a pin that caught the light on the collar of his suit jacket. His hair was longer now, but still smoothed back, and the plains of his face seemed sharper, somehow, more harsh. The scar across his nose seemed darker and more menacing, but none of that held a candle to his eyes. They glowed bright yellow, unnatural in terms to his regular eye color and that of not feeling human at all, and it jarred both Keith and Lance as they watched Shiro remain his contact with Matt. When Shiro turns to take Matt back behind the bar with him, it jars the both of them into motion, and Keith tugs Lance in the direction of where he was taking him. Lance lets him for a moment before he realises what he’s doing, and he yanks back on his hand hard, spinning Keith around so that he’s facing him. The look in his eyes is wild, his pupils blown, and Lance reaches out his free hand, palm flat and open. 

“Keith, we can’t just go after them,” Lance whispers, harshly, knowing Keith can hear him, as he stares into his eyes. 

“They’re right there! I’ve been looking for months, Lance, I can’t just let him go,” 

“If we go after them, we have no chance. They have the upper hand, we know nothing! We have no plan, no information, nothing. If we just waltz in, we’re jeopardizing everything,” 

Keith fights against the grip that Lance has on his hand, tugging enough to rip their hands apart. Lance takes his hand back with his eyebrows drawn together, his lips pressed tightly. 

“I can’t just let him go, why can’t you understand that?” Keith says, and his voice is low and full of something that Lance can’t place, but it makes goosebumps rise along his skin. 

“Matt’s just as important to me! I grew up with Pidge, and he was always there for me. All I had were older sisters, and I love them to pieces, but he was like an older brother to me, always has been,” 

“But you have to realize that if we go in now, we screw over any of the other options we have for saving both of them. We have to wait, and go in with a better plan. It hurts just as much to let them go right now, believe me, but we’re going to get them soon. They’re going to be okay, and we’re going to get them back,” 

When Lance finished, the look in Keith’s eyes had softened, and his eyes had shifted to look down at Lance’s hands, clasped together still in front of him. He moved closer to him then, and covered Lance’s hands with his own. 

“I’m sorry,” He murmured, leaning his head down further so that Lance could only see the top of his head, and feel the coolness of his hand against his. 

Lance thought he recognized a tremble in his voice, and he felt his heart shatter at the sound of it. He squeezed his hands, instead then, and guided him back to their table with their namecards, abandoned and only providing clarity when the lights shifted over them. 

As they sat down, Lance felt sadness hanging heavy on his shoulders. He knew how it felt to be so close to something only to have it so far, to just have it in reach past your fingertips only to not have the strength to reach farther. Seeing Matt had catapulted him into another reality, as he’d never in his entire life would’ve imagined he would see Matt in a condition like he was. His memories of him were fond, of the days he would sneak away from the castle and wander the mundane streets, looking for things to do. He was enamoured with the differences in their cultures, and one day, wandering through the park and murmuring jokes to the trees around him, he had startled and sat up when someone had flashed something at him. 

He looked up to see someone a little younger than him, big round glasses hanging down heavy on their nose, their floofy hair stuck up in varying directions all around their head. They had an object balanced in their hands, all black with a reflective circle in the front, a strap hanging around their neck that was neon green connected to the corners. 

He raised his eyebrows, unaware that there was any mundanes that could see him. He had always been somewhat of a ghost when he wandered through public spaces, as he was unable to control his magic that shielded him from the outside world. 

When the person in front of him let their camera down to hang around their neck, and raised their hand up and shook it back, Lance startled out of his reverie. 

“Hi, I’m Pidge!” They piped up, and Lance sat up, as he had been slumped down against the cool tree trunk, and stood up. He hesitantly returned their gesture towards him of moving their hand back and forth, and they smiled to reveal two front teeth missing. 

It wasn’t long before Lance heard heavy footfalls coming towards them, and looked over to see a taller figure turning around the corner. They had similar round glasses and hair, and their facial features were mirrors of each other. 

“Pidge, what did I tell you about running off to take pictures? Take me with you!” He calls out, and when he gets there, he leans over to put his hands on his knees, panting. Pidge giggles, patting their brother on the head. 

“It’s okay, you found me, didn’t you,” They observe, and it’s then that he looks up to see Lance standing there. 

“Hey, little dude,” The guy says, and Lance echoes the gesture that he did earlier with Pidge. The person returns it, a smile on his lips that makes his cheeks reach up to his glasses, pushing them up. His cheeks are dusted with light freckles, just like Pidge. 

“I’m Matt, this is Pidge, who are you?” He asks, and Lance returns the smile that he sees. 

“I’m Lance!” He says, sticking his hands on his hips, and Matt laughs. 

“Well, it’s nice to meet you Lance. I’m sorry for Pidge taking pictures of you without asking,” He says, and pokes Pidge’s cheeks while they bat them away. 

He shrugs his shoulders, sliding his hands into the pockets of his trousers. 

“It’s okay, I’m just happy you can see me!” Lance says, and Matt’s eyebrows raise at that, then, tilting his head to the side. 

“Why wouldn’t we be able to?” He asks, and he kneels down then, to get at his level. Pidge sits down next to him, and starts ripping up shreds of grass around them. 

“Well, I’m not really supposed to tell you. But, I snuck away from home for awhile because I was lonely and bored, and my magic keeps me hidden so I’m safe,” Lance explains, nodding like he’s satisfied with his answer. 

There’s a flash of concern on Matt’s face, and he takes a moment before he speaks. 

“Do you think that the people you ran away from are missing you? Maybe you should go back,” He offers, and Lance’s face scrunches up in disgust. 

“They’re too busy with the Fire Kingdom to pay attention to me,” he says as his lips form into a pout, his arms crossed against his chest. 

“I’m sure they care about you enough to notice that you’re missing,” he says, and Lance looks away from him, his bottom lip trembling. 

“But I just met you guys! I just want to play and have fun!” He demands, and stomps his foot against the ground petulantly. Matt can’t keep the small smile off of his face, as he recognizes the temper and emotion in Lance that he remembers experiencing during his childhood. 

“How about you go home for now, but we’ll both meet you back here tomorrow, and I’ll bring a ball that we can play with? And maybe you can talk to your guardians about coming and seeing us so they know where you are, at least? How does that sound?” Matt offers, and waits for a minute or two as Lance mulls it over. 

He nods, then, and meets Matt’s eyes. It’s this moment that Matt realizes they’re glowing blue. 

“Alright, I guess I am getting a little hungry. I’ll see you here at this tree tomorrow then!” Lance says, and nods when Matt affirms his decision with a smile. He turns and runs back towards the line of trees he came from, and Matt and Pidge watch him go as he vanishes beyond the tree line. 

Lance remembers returning to that tree everyday, playing ball with Matt and showing cool things to Pidge so that they could take pictures. It was the highlight of his time as a child, and he remembers as they both taught him more human mannerisms, and how he confided in Matt all of his feelings of not being good enough. 

These memories hang heavy in his heart as he sits in the chair opposite Keith, and it’s not until Keith takes his hand away from Lance’s does he refocus on the reality around him. 

He looks up to see Keith staring at him, and when he meets his eyes, Keith looks away at something else. 

“You okay?” Keith asks, his voice quiet. 

“Yeah-, yeah I just got lost in thought a little bit. Seeing him like that, really.. Scared me,” He says, the truth shaping the words leaving his tongue. It was a familiar feeling. 

“I feel the same way. I’ve never seen Takashi like that,” Keith says, and his eyes look devoid of anything. Lance has no idea how he’s feeling despite what he’s telling him. 

It’s then that the music that’s being performed cuts short, and a voice sounds clear above all of the chatter and noise. 

“Greetings, everyone, to my home and party. I hope you’ve been enjoying yourselves,” The voice starts, and Keith and Lance both turn their attention to the stage where the band resided, scanning over the menacing figure that stood in front of the microphone. 

He stood tall, a deep purple suit adorning his body, one hand casually tucked into a pocket, the collar of his suit dark and sharp against the purplish hue of his neck. 

The entire crowd becomes more quiet after his voice finishes, and they become still and silent before he continues again. 

“As many of you know me, I am Thace, and I welcome you to yet another gathering in honor of the Galra Organization. I urge all of you to take advantage of the festivities and things provided for you, and for all of you to take the time to learn and know the organization and each other. We have a lot of influential people among our crowd tonight,” He says, clearing his throat and starting to continue, before someone comes across the stage, placing a hand on his shoulder and whispering something into his ear. 

His back visibly straightens at the information that he’s given, and his voice is eerily calm at what he says next. 

“I’ve been informed we have some newcomers with us tonight. Please let us give them a warm welcome, and remind them of what we all here stand for,” He says, and a spotlight glides over the crowd before landing on Keith and Lance.


	8. don't leave me lonely now

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He looks at Lance one last time before letting his eyes flutter shut, his head thumping down against the concrete floor. Keith thought for a moment about everything that he’d been through, and how Lance coming into his life had been the brightest blooms of color in his memory for centuries.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello! so this is the last update that i have for this fic. i haven't written anything for months, so hopefully i'll be able to find inspiration and be able to finish it. i haven't been as involved in the voltron fandom as of late, but i'm hoping that once season three comes around i might get more excited about it. i hope you guys enjoy, and as always, you can find me at my tumblr peachykeiths. 
> 
> also, thank you sawyer (lumberjackwiki) for reading this and talking to me about it on skype and supporting me through all of the comments on my fics. i appreciate it so much. <3

They both are shocked by the sudden calling out, and while Lance feels chills run down his spine, he is reassured by Keith quickly taking his hand and standing up. He bows to everyone who has eyes currently trained on them, and nods to Lance. 

“Hello, everyone, I’m Damian, this is my husband Jace,” He calls out, and the crowd is silent for a moment that lasts forever for Lance, who is startled into leaning into Keith’s side further when they all erupt into hello’s and light applause. 

Thace chuckles darkly into the mic, turning his attention fully towards them. 

“Welcome to the organization, we are lucky to have you. You’ve been a lovely benefactor, and we are excited to see what else you will do for us, and all of your brothers and sisters around you,” Thace finishes, and the spotlight fades on them as they both sit down, and Thace continues to greet others that are new, having them stand up and introduce themselves as they had. 

Lance can feel his heartbeat thudding heavily against his rib cage as he sits, his hand shaking in Keith’s. 

“Holy shit,” He mumbles, and Keith looks over at him. The look in his eyes is hard. 

“We have to get out of here,” He says, and Lance doesn’t feel his anxiety quell. 

“Do you think they pointed us out because they know? If we leave now, though, won’t they know that we would try to if we thought we were threatened?” Lance mumbles, and realizes he’s rambling as Keith squeezes his fingers. 

“I know. Obviously someone has been listening, so we need to be careful,” Keith mumbles, and he goes quiet as his eyes go somewhere else, and Lance can feel the pull of his magic in his chest. He’s searching for someone, something, anything to give them a clue to what was happening. Lance searches the dance floor for anything, and finds himself make direct eye contact with yellow, glowing eyes. 

He finds that he can’t look away from their stare, and doesn’t have time to wonder about it before he feels a warm electricity prickle over his skin, and undergoes a moment of pain, light flashing before his eyes, before his whole world goes blank. He feels like he’s outside of his body and he watches himself turn towards Keith and stand up, tugging at his hand to lead him somewhere. Keith looks confused for a moment before he feels himself say “Follow me”, and he relents, letting him lead him where he wants to go. 

When his feet start taking him towards a hallway leading away from the party, he can feel himself screaming inside of his head. He has no control over his body, over how it’s moving or what he says. It’s the worst thing to look over at Keith but not as himself, see as he trusts him as he leads him somewhere that even Lance doesn’t know where or what it is. He wishes he could do anything to warn him, but feels powerless inside of his body. 

It’s one of the worst feelings he’d ever felt. 

When his body leads them to a back room, he wonders why Keith has just so faithfully followed him wherever he went, and wonders why he didn’t doubt him at all. They hadn’t known each other that long, why was it so easy to feel like they balanced each other out so well, why did it work between them, trust and companionship flowing through their actions so effortlessly? 

Lance hated it, at that moment. He hated it because it had led Keith to this. 

The room that they entered was dimly lit, and there was nothing in it devoid of a chair with a person sitting casually in it, arms crossed against their chest. Keith stops moving beside Lance, who lets their hands fall away from each other as he continues walking to Shiro. 

“Shiro?” Keith mumbles, and is distracted when Lance leaves him, and continues walking. 

“Lance! Lance, what are you doing?” Keith continues, yelling out to him, and Lance wants so desperately to turn around and run to his side, but he can’t stop his body moving to Shiro. As he gets closer, he is inexplicably drawn to Shiro’s eyes, glowing bright enough that Lance feels like he can’t see anything else. 

When he gets close enough, he feels himself turn and stand next to Shiro’s side, where he’s sitting. His arms stay straight to his sides, and he stands completely still, and can only barely see Keith out of the corner of his eyes, from where his eyes are focused on staring at the wall. 

His heart breaks at the disbelief in Keith’s eyes, and he hates that he thinks that Keith would believe Lance would betray him. He knows also that if he was in his shoes, he would think the same thing as well. 

Keith is furious as he stares at Lance, standing so weirdly still for what Keith knew him to be, constantly moving, looking, talking, anything. He feels so many things at once, wonders if this is what he gets for trusting other people, for not looking too far into it before jumping blindly into this weird relationship with Lance where they not so subtly moved around each other, for everything he’d done since he met him at that bar. 

He looks at Shiro, then, and doesn’t see any familiarity or kindness that he is used to seeing there. His hands curl into fists at his sides, and he can feel his fangs elongating, can taste the blood filtering into his mouth from the wounds he creates. 

“Did you not think someone would notice? Keith, I’m disappointed in you,” Shiro says, his words drawling out as he casually explains himself, and he stands from the chair, dusting off the front of his suit as he takes a step closer. Keith feels himself let out a low growl, and Shiro raises an eyebrow. 

“Come on, little brother, we both know that you won’t hurt me,” He says, and goes over to Lance, looking him over. 

“And I know you won’t hurt Lance. You both care for each other more than I anticipated. I knew especially when I saw you both fighting over coming after Matt and I. It’s so endearing that the both of you want to save the both of us so badly. The reality, however, is that I don’t want to be saved, and I don’t think Matt does either, not anymore. I quite like working for the Galra, and not having to deal with you in my life, well, that’s been a real breath of fresh air, for me,” Shiro continues, and he circles Lance, looking at him. 

He places a hand at his shoulder, and Lance doesn’t flinch as a purple glow emanates from his fingers, shining silver in the light. It’s that moment that Keith realises that Shiro’s arm has been replaced by something that doesn’t look human. 

He is crumbling on the inside, looking at his brother and having to hear all of these words fall from his mouth that he never thought in a million years he would hear from him. After everything they had been through, he wonders how much of it is true. He knows that he must be under some sort of control from the Galra, but he’s unsure, and his eyes flick back and forth between the yellow of Shiro’s and the blue of Lance’s. Keith is trying his best to keep his composure, but he falls still as Lance’s eyes shift, from their glowing blue to yellow. 

He feels a chill fall over his body, at that. 

“What are you doing to Lance?” Keith grits out, and feels his fingers sharpen into claws, as they piece the skin of his palms, where he has them held tightly together into fists. 

“I’m just enlightening him to the power of the Galra, he already had a taste when I saw him from across the dance floor. I’m just giving him the proper amount now. He’ll be more powerful and strong that he’s ever been. Don’t you want that for him, Keith?” Shiro asks, and when he looks over at Keith, the smile on his face turns his stomach. 

“I don’t know what’s happened to you, Shiro, but I will help you. I’m going to find who fucking did this to you, and I’m going to make things right,” Keith growled, and watches as Shiro’s hand leaves Lance’s shoulder, and he goes to the back of his chair, placing his hands there instead. 

“Well, little brother, I don’t think you can do that after what Lance here is going to do to you,” He says, smiling still, and Lance’s eyes move and stay solely focused on Keith. 

“Lance, why don’t you show Keith just how powerful you are now?” Shiro commands, and Lance’s eyes grow brightly, yellow and invasive. Keith is caught frozen by the sight of his eyes, and doesn’t even flinch when he starts running towards him. 

“Lance, please, this isn’t you! Don’t let Shiro control you!” Keith calls out, and when Lance doesn’t stop in his advances towards him, he dodge rolls the other way, instantly turning around so that his back isn’t to him. Lance’s eyes start to glow impossibly brighter, and he begins to mumble under his breath instead, turning and approaching Keith slowly. His fingers move in patterns, and it’s only a moment before frost starts to form in wispy clouds around his hands. 

Keith feels frantic, his thoughts going at a million miles per hour through his head, trying to find a solution to a problem that seems unsolvable. The look on Lance’s face finds him walking backwards, the smirk that’s tilting the edges of his lips upwards anything but flirtatious. His eyes are so unlike him, seems to overtake his face and make his usual soft and warm features unnatural and wrong. 

Lance raises his hand, and Keith barely manages to dodge the attack, has the upper part of his left arm frozen. He cries out as it takes it over, crawling up his skin and making him unable to move it. He goes out to touch it with his opposite hand and burns the end of his fingertips, crying out in pain once more. 

Keith sees movement at the edge of his eyes, and sees Shiro making his way out of the room, a door hidden in the opposite corner that he didn’t notice when they came in. 

“Takashi! Please! I know you’re still in there, please!” Keith calls out, and his voice sounds broken. Keith’s eyes dart from Lance to his brother, and sees Shiro’s figure freeze midstep, turning around and meeting Keith’s eyes. For one blissful moment, his features soften and his eyes become their usual welcoming brown, and Keith feels a sob wracked from his body at the sight of it. Shiro looks so sad and broken down, and he looks so guilty. 

Shiro goes to open his mouth before the yellow overtakes his eyes, and he clutches at his arm for a moment, crying out with a gasp before he turns completely around and continues to stride out of the door he was originally going for. The door slams shut behind him when he leaves, and Keith, momentarily distracted, looks back to find Lance inches away from him. 

“Why, hello there, pretty boy,” He murmurs, his voice deep and tinged with something that was definitely not the familiar tone Keith was becoming used to. Lance’s hands come in contact with Keith’s shoulders, and he shoves him down to the ground as Keith’s hands fly up, sinking his claws into Lance’s skin without thinking about it. Lance cries out as they both end up falling, Keith taking the brunt of it as Lance falls on top of him. 

Keith rolls the both of them, and Lance begins to struggle for the upper hand, trying not to get pinned down by him. Lance readies another spell, the magic swirling in his fingertips, as he presses them to Keith’s chest, dragging it down. Keith feels the cold spread through his body, crying out as his movement becomes more limited, feeling cold like icicles growing deep into his chest. 

“Lance! I don’t want to hurt you anymore that I have to,” Keith gets out, as he realizes tears are falling from his eyes, red with blood. This entire situation has left him completely flipped upside down, and the look in Lance’s eyes is enough to ruin him. As they settle from struggling, Lance pinning down Keith’s hands, he lets his body go entirely limp. 

“I can’t- I can’t hurt you,” he gets out, and his words are garbled, red streaks running into his hairline and disappearing into the darkness of his hair. 

“That’s so sad, pretty boy, because it would’ve been more fun if you kept fighting back,” Lance says, a maddening laugh leaving his lips as he prepares one more spell, and Keith can feel the power of it in his chest, making his head dizzy, Lance’s fingertips on his wrist causing cold to move all of the way up his arm. 

He looks at Lance one last time before letting his eyes flutter shut, his head thumping down against the concrete floor. Keith thought for a moment about everything that he’d been through, and how Lance coming into his life had been the brightest blooms of color in his memory for centuries. 

He figured he didn’t mind then, as he felt Lance’s power flow through him, that he would be his undoing.


End file.
